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Community Nights

Turning the Page developed and implements a school-based parent involvement initiative called "Community Nights." Community Nights are fun and interactive evenings that include parent workshops, child mentoring, book giveaways, a family dinner and connections to community resources.

Community Nights help schools make stronger connections with their students’ families and support parents as their children’s most important teachers.

Turning the Page holds at least eight Community Nights in each of our partner schools during the school year. All Community Nights take place on weeknights between 6 and 8pm.

The 2007-2008 Community Nights series is under way! With help from our dedicated parents, teachers, and volunteers, our seven partner schools are well into the fall schedule. Check our Author Visit schedule to see who is coming to each school.

» Community Night Features
» Parent Workshop Curricula

Community Night features

Parents at River Terrace Elementary participate in a Reading Development workshop.

Parent workshops: Parents receive advice, practice techniques and share their experiences in workshops that highlight the vital role parents play in their children's academic success. All workshops are based in children's literature and feature interactive, hands-on activities. Turning the Page holds two to three different parent workshops at each Community Night. Workshop leaders are trained master’s degree candidates from local universities as well as local professionals. Click here for a full list of parent workshop curricula.

A student and mentor at Garfield Elementary enjoy a good book together.

Child mentoring: While parents attend workshops, Turning the Page volunteers read and do arts and crafts activities with the children.

Book giveaways: At the end of the mentoring sessions, each child selects a book, purchased through Reading Is Fundamental to take home. Parents keep the books used in their workshops for their home libraries. By the end of the Community Nights series, families receive more than 30 books.

Family dinner: Parents, children, teachers and volunteers receive a free, healthy dinner at each Community Night to begin the evening. Food is provided by Turning the Page and prepared by "parent captains."

Resource table: Parents receive a wide range of free information on social services and community resources.

Parent Workshop Curricula

Parents in a Conflict Resolution workshop at Gibbs Elementary.

Introduction to Supporting Your Child's Education: Parents who are new to Community Nights receive advice on choosing children’s literature that is interesting and age-appropriate, fun home activities to expand their children’s vocabularies, and read-aloud and storytelling techniques. The workshop helps parents make reading fun and exciting for their children, engage children in discussions based on books and increase their children’s confidence in reading skills.

After completing the four-session introductory workshop, parents attend one of several follow-up four-session workshops created by Turning the Page:

Conflict Resolution and Children's Literature: The workshop focuses on the themes of conflict resolution and creative problem solving using children’s literature, and shows parents how reading children’s literature at home can teach their children to successfully and peacefully handle potential conflicts in school or at home.

Healthy Families and Children's Literature: This workshop highlights parents as caregivers and shows parents the connection between the physical and emotional well-being of children and how well they do in school. It also creatively connects children’s literature to themes such as nutrition, healthy habits, self-esteem, and community caregivers (doctors, police officers, etc.).

Art Links to Literacy: Parents and children explore the art of the Phillips Collection and children's literature related to the art. Families participate in storytelling activities, hands-on art workshops and museum tours that show the connection between literacy and visual literacy. This workshop was developed with the Phillips Collection, with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more about this workshop, please see the Museum Partners page.

Supporting Your Child's Education: While many of Turning the Page's workshops highlight what parents can do in the home to increase their children's achievement, this workshop focuses on how parents and schools can work together more effectively. Parents learn about developing a positive relationship with teachers, understanding report cards and using tools provided by the No Child Left Behind Act to receive information and make choices about their children's education.

Celebrating Community: This workshop helps parents talk to their children about the importance of community and a spectrum of differences that we label “diversity,” including differences of race, culture, language, and learning style. Parents discuss similarities between all people, the importance of empathy and how to foster it in their children, how to appreciate and celebrate diversity, what it means to be a citizen of both our local and global communities, and the importance of identifying and pursuing goals and dreams. This workshop is based partially on books from the Shakti for Children book series donated by the Global Fund for Children.

Street Law: Parents learn about and discuss topics such as rules, laws, and the definition of family and how these topics affect our everyday lives. The workshop also covers parental rights and responsibilities under the law.

Parent Advocacy: Parents attending Community Nights are already among the most involved parents at their schools. This workshop helps strengthen and support these parents' roles as advocates for their children and leaders in their schools. Participants discuss the importance of parent involvement, techniques for preparing and delivering speeches, and persuasion methods, among other topics.

Thoughtful Choices: Developed with the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Galleries, this workshop focuses on family stories, cultural traditions and history, folktales, art, and poetry while incorporating the Gallery's Asian, Himalayan, and Islamic art. For more about this workshop, please see the Museum Partners page.